Trials And Tribulations Of Thanksgiving Day

All was peaches and cream at the restaurant. We had a nice dinner with friends. I got mom home, put away her leftovers and said goodnight.  We were both really tired. I had just gotten out of my car in the garage and two things happened simultaneously. First, I smelled a strong odor, but before I could even process that my phone rang.  It was the Life Alert dispatcher telling me that my mother activated her pendant and had fallen in her house.  The paramedics were en route.

I jumped into the car.  When I arrived, the firemen were trying to get into the house.  My first reaction was to tell them she had a lockbox. Then the sinking feeling set in.  I had her locks changed last week and the key hadn't been replaced in the lockbox.  I had not put her new key on my chain yet, either.  They got into the house by removing a screen and climbing through the (thank God) unlocked window.

She had fallen but was unable to get up. All she remembered was feeling faint.  Her oxygen concentrator was turned off.  So not only did I f*ck up with the keys, I f*cked up by not making sure it was on when we got home.  She didn't suffer any serious injuries but by the time I left she was complaining of pain in her neck, shoulders and back.  I'm sure it was muscular and she'll be hurting tomorrow.

Under normal circumstances, I would have stayed with her for the night.  But remember the odor in my garage?  I had to get home.  I ended up calling the gas company and sitting outside by the curb for an hour waiting for a tech to arrive.  I kept a close eye out for the large packs of javalinas roaming the street every night. [javalina video 1:45]

The prognosis is that my hot water tank has a gas leak.  The gas in my house has been turned off until I can get it fixed or replaced.  The good news is that I only need gas for hot water and the furnace.  Since we're in the throes of record-breaking heat, I won't be using the furnace for possibly as long as three weeks.  Ahhh....when it rains, it pours.  

But today was a day to give thanks and I'm extremely thankful mom is not badly hurt and my house didn't explode.

PS  I took my traditional Thanksgiving morning run drive to Madera Canyon and caught the critter seen in the extra. Unbelievably, it jumped onto a pretty high platform feeder!